Fight, Fight, Fight ~> Photo 39

It feels like it has been forever since I have been on here!  In my defense a lot has gone on this summer...  We moved, oldest child had Driver's Ed, youngest had summer school, and the one in the middle started school on the modified calendar at the end of July!  Plus we got sick!!!  So we did not really get a "summer vacation".

The move was crazy and we were really stressed out!  But now all the kids have their own rooms and hubby has a computer room!!! (No More Computers in My Bedroom and Living room!!!)  I think this a step in the right direction, we are no longer in a small cramped up town house fighting with one another about everything.  Now we have our own spaces, a place to cool off and relax!  We still fight with each other over stupid stuff (most popular fight is about doing homework and reading) but I'm not hearing the boys fight over who's mess it is in the bedroom (it was Cole's).

Next move will hopeful be us buying a house!
But till then I am pretty happy with this one!
(Just need to finish unpacking and putting stuff away!)

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~
~Ra~

Humming Bird ~> Photo 38

Have you ever seen a Humming Bird nest?

I'm trying to think back to all the animal shows I have seen and all the animal/nature photographs in magazines and I don't recall seeing one so stumbling onto one in the yard is very exciting!  If you search the web you will find tons of pictures of humming birds and their nests but I never thought about searching for what one might look like till we saw this little guy flying in and out of his tiny little home.  I am quite curious on how it was made, what it is made out of, and did the humming bird make it?  I wonder if there are eggs in it!?!  How cool would that be to watch little humming birds grow up!  I really wish I could get a better angle on the nest to see inside it.  Oh well, this is a pretty cool find and snap shot!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo # 37 ~ First Day of Summer Vacation!

We are FREE!  Free as a bird!!!

Well for a little while since school is out for summer vacation and now we struggle to entertain the kids.  On the plus side I get to sleep in a little which helps since I am a night kinda of person not a morning one!  Lol.  

I did jumped right back into something I started last year, them waking up to a notebook at their spot at the table with a list of what I expected out of  them that day and this year Lila gets a "Chore Notebook" too!  And there was a smidge of grumbling but it was amazing how fast they went through it so that they could have their precious "1 Hour Of Game Time" (yes we are mean parents and crazy)!

(Lila's first chore list and she was excited to have one like the boys!)

I am also going to change the dinners the boys do once a week from they help me make a dinner they pick to me helping them!  I will also now include Lila in helping me make a dinner once a week which means she will pick out a dinner and have to get a shopping list together, go with me to the store and like her brother learn to shop with coupons and/or good deals, and then take those items and make a meal!  The boys have been doing this every summer for the last couple of year and I hope that they have learn enough to now be in charge of the kitchen giving me a little bit of a cooking break.  My goal is to have them more knowledgeable than I was when I went out on my own and they will be able to feed themselves without the help of the fast food industry.  

I just hope we get into a good grove over the summer, routines are very helpful and are very hard over here.  It seems as soon as we get into a good routine something throws us off, camp or the start of a new school year.  Once upon a time, before we had Lila and the boys were very young, we lived an apartment with pool and I was watching a neighbor's son over the summer, we had an awesome routine!  Now it seems I just can't  achieve the same consistent productive routine and it has been 6 summer since we moved from that awful apartment!  Lol!  So wish me luck!!!

It is going to be another very busy summer.  As the kids get older there is just more to do!  Jesse will be taking Drivers Ed, Lila will be doing Summer School, and Cole starts a new calendar as he start middle school.  I hope to add play dates and pool dates (and maybe a date night or to with my hubby since I loved doing that for my bday and want to do more with just him) and if we are lucking a camp or 2.  But we will have to wait and see as the dust settle from our 2012-2013 school year!

Thanks for reading my very long post today 

(if you got this far!)

And remember

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

(a daily struggle for me)

~Ra~

ThE BiG DaY ~> Photo 36

Today at 10:38pm (that's what my baby book says) I will be one year older!

(Cole on the big screen at the ball game that he and his school chorus sang at)

And I can't help feel a little exited about it!  Even though I know as an adult we really don't do much for a birthday, nice dinner out the weekend closest to it, for me fast food if it is on a week day so I don't have to cook.  Usually no cakes since in our house I am the one that makes them and since mother's day is so close to my birthday I usually don't get much for mother's day.

But this year has been a little different!  I already got my AWESOME bday gift and boy am I loving taking pix with it!  And my hubby went out and got me a couple of mother's day gifts, one from each kid!!!!  And what I asked for last year!!!  Someone is finally listening ;~)  Which also means I have to step it up for father's day this year!  Lol!

So even though I am using pictures that I have already posted on my facebook page and I believe that my facebook family and friends are probably the only ones that look at this blog they are awesome pictures to show my EXCITEMENT today!  Or at least this morning since by lunch I will be tired and by 3 I will be exhausted and by 5:30 I will be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off getting all the girl scout stuff together for the end or year party are are doing tonight!  And by 11pm I will be in bed wining that I can't fall asleep!  Just like any other day, Lol!

(He was so happy and excited to be on the big screen)

So right now I want to feel excited and happy that I am now 32!  We got to hang out with friends last Saturday and my bestie made me my favorite pie, Lemon Meringue.  She offered to make me a cake and I told her I did not love (like yes, love no) cakes so she was AWESOME and made it from scratch, I was just going to buy one in the freezer section of the Harris Teeter.  Last Sunday was fun too, Lila had a friend who did a birthday party at a bowling place.  And so far the week has been nice and slow, except for yesterday's killer headache!  This coming Saturday is dinner and a movie with my main squeeze while the kids go to the grandparents house!  That will be very nice!!!

I need to be off now today is a day I do have things to do, I both hate and love Wednesdays!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo # 35 ~> Crush!

Crush is our South American Red-Footed Tortoise that my hubby got me last year for my birthday. 

 (If  you want to read about my excitement in getting him last year click here!)  

We ended up getting him a month before my birthday since that is when he came into the pet shop and I always wanted a tortoise, have no clue why I did.  Today he seems happy, as happy as a tortoise can seem, it's not like a dog that wags his tail when he is happy!  Lol!  He loves his fruit and veggies, tomatoes seem to be his favorite along with some romaine lettuce.  He does not care for squash and that's ok we don't like it ether!  Lol!  I do need to measure him to see how much he has (or has not) grown this year.  It doesn't seem like much but than again they grow pretty slowly.  

As a pet he is pretty easy going and a joy to watch as he munches on clovers in the yard!  A tortoise is not a pet for you if you want a snuggly soft affectionate pet but if you want someone low key, slow, and full of wonder and mystery than I do recommend a tortoise.  

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Blown Away....Photo 34

I am Blown Away by the pictures my camera captures. 

It was the best Christmas gift my hubby ever gave me and for my birthday he gave me the BIG Zooming Lens!    

Look you can see the dandelion seeds blowing away!

 How Awesome Is That!!!!!

I am hoping for a good birthday week, so far I've had an awesome weekend with great fun at parties, sent some time with great friends, and got my favorite pie (it was even homemade!)!

The best part is my birthday not till Wednesday so there is room for so much more ;~)

(Hint, Hint)

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo 33~> Zooming In Little Bird

My birthday is coming up at the end of May and what I really wanted was a bigger zoom lens for my camera since at the winter performances at the elementary school the lens that came with the camera just wasn't enough to get a good close up shot of my kids singing.  Well for the second year in a row my birthday came early (last year in April I got Crush our tortoise) this year I got my Big Zooming Lens!!!  

As luck would have it soon after I got it I was outside with my daughter and a hawk landed on top of a tree across the street.  What a difference!  Can you see him in the pix below?  He is a very little speck on the top left side of the left tree. 

My poor Husband is going to run out of computer space soon since taking pictures is so relaxing to me and these days I need a lot of calming time away from the stress!  

Lol

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~